THE WEEN. 



305 



spells on the warriors of Mona, and thereby strijDped the 

 country of its chivalry. A doughty knight at length 

 came to the rescue, and was on the point of surprising her 

 and putting her to death, when she suddenly transformed 

 herself into a Wren and flew through his fingers. Every 

 year, on Christmas Day, she is compelled to reappear in 

 the island under the form of a Wren, with the sentence 

 hanging over her, that she is to perish by human hands. 



THE WREN. 



On that day, consequently, every year, a grand onslaught 

 is made by troops of idle boys and men on every Wren 

 which can be discovered. Such as are killed are sus- 

 pended from a bough of holly and carried about in triumph 

 on the following day (St. Stephen's Day), the bearers 

 singing a rude song descriptive of the previous day's hunt. 

 The song is preserved in Quiggin's Guide to the Isle of 

 Man, as it was sung in 1853; and strange to say, it 



